I believe the Repro's were copied from the Ilion guns but in my mind at least you can't begin to compare a Repro to an Ilion gun ! Of course just my opinion and we all know about opinions !

IMHO neither. No disrespect intended .

I agree with Daryl ,No disrespect from me either ! The Ilion guns are usually beautiful guns the only thing I wish they would have done was continue the Legend on the Top Rib ! I know this is a different steel but that really is a nice touch on the Meriden guns !

The feeling is what I have often said of the Purdey vs Holland & Holland; It is a warmth of one, not felt in the other.

I do miss the "mullered" boarders that are absent on the Ilion checkering.

The reproductions have many adherents. They are nice guns. I owned one once but sold it because I thought it was on the heavy side for a 20 bore. The checkering on the DHE's was not up to Parker standards on most of them I have seen. It also has an incredibly hard finish on the stocks. I took the finish off and did the stocks with oil. I recut the checkering and cut mullered borders. The gun looked a lot better. I also redid the barrels even though the gun was new. I fully understand why people like them, but for me, I'll stick to the originals.

I agree with you Ralph. Those finely cut mullered borders were just one more sign of attention to detail and lent a level of true ‘class’ to the Parker Gun.





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[QUOTE=Dean Romig;254004]I agree with you Ralph. Those finely cut mullered borders were just one more sign of attention to detail and lent a level of true ‘class’ to the Parker Gun.

Fortunately, mullered borders are easy to cut in for a person competent at checkering. However, I wouldn't cut them in on a gun that is factory original without them.

Tom, I’ve seen ‘mullered borders’ and then I’ve seen finely cut mullered borders and they apparantly are not easy to cut even for someone who is “competent” at checkering. There is or should I say, can be a big difference.





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Dean, finely cut mullered borders are indeed easy to cut for a person competent at checkering. I use a 60 degree pointer to cut the guide line and then cut the fine mullered border with a small fine bent file. On larger mullered borders I might use a concave head or just use a bent file. I always finish up larger checkering borders cut with a concave head with the bent file. I've been doing mullered borders since I was 16 years old and for me they are indeed easy.